Better Late Than Never
by therisingharvestmoon
Summary: Tanith Low visits the statue of Ghastly Bespoke. Slight Tanith/Ghastly.


**a/n – **The characters featured here are not mine. I'm trying them on for size. Guh. They had better make a archive for Skulduggery Pleasant pretty darn soon otherwise fans will want to read and they won't be able to because they'll be floating around all over the place!! (rant ends here). This is a little oneshot I came up with. Thanks, please review. This is set between first and second book.

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**Better Late Than Never**

There was a horrifying thought swirling arounf in Tanith Low's head. It terrified her and gripped her like a vice and she walked from her motorbike. She couldn't possibly comprehend how this could have happened. It was frightening - Skulduggery Pleasant was right.

Well, of course he was right, he was _always _right. But this time he was right and he didn't know he was right. Tanith Low was very comforted by this fact; this way he couldn't gloat. The truth of his rightness was – she _was _very pretty. Ghastly Bespoke on the other hand, was _very _ugly. How was he right you ask yourself? Well, he was right about them being polar opposites, the universe gave the remaining fact – opposites attract.

Tanith kept her hand near the sheath of her sword as she made her way through the thick woods. She didn't want to be seen (not that there was an enemy threat nearby, she would just die if Val or Skulduggery sneaked up on her doing this) so she kept far from the path. Her strong arms pushed she branches apart so they wouldn't whip her face, and her hair was in a high ponytail because it was very annoying.

The clearing near the castle was up ahead. She checked to make sure, three times, and headed toward where Ghastly's stone body knelt, prostrate. He had tried to him his face from showing fear, and had succeeded. His mouth was upturned and his eyes had found the spot where his attacker was. And now they found Tanith. She smiled – he looked peaceful.

_Well, _she thought to herself, _as peaceful as I've ever seen Ghastly Bespoke look._

He smiled crookedly at her, his eyes still piercing as if they were set in stone. They _were _set in stone.

She looked away, then looked back, expecting him to blink or breathe or something. But he just stared, lifelessly. 'Oh come on!' She snapped, to herself and to the statue. 'Don't look at me like that! You know very well that I didn't know you knew that I harboured some… _feelings _for you back!' She spat out that word like it was venom.

The statue stared.

'Oh I am not turning my sadness into rage, Ghastly. You're so impossible!'

The statue stared and Tanith's eyes narrowed. 'Yes, Skulduggery _would _think I was insane… er…. If he walked around the corner right now. So what? He's not going to. I made sure. Yeah, and another thing,' tears welled in her eyes which she pretended to ignore. 'If you had have _told_ me then I wouldn't have come here like an idiot, and now it's all to late.' She let a let fall down her cheek, and she knelt down, touching his face with her soft hand.

'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Ghastly. It's too late.' She sighed, and thought she saw the statue of Ghastly Bespoke wink at her. 'Ghastly?' Her hand moved around his neck and she kissed the frozen lips of the statue, her tears wetting the stone. She felt sad, and stupid, and that it would be nice if someone had a nice steaming cup of hot cocoa ready for her when she met up with Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain later that night.

Tanith Low left silently, planning to do some research in China's library when she got there.

Ghastly Bespoke couldn't move or speak, but his senses of sight, touch and hearing still remained, even if they were a little fuzzy. If his small grin could broaden, it would surely shatter his stone imprisonment. No time passed for him, it was like being asleep, until Tanith had shown up. He wasn't sure how she knew, but it was the best moment of his life. He'd been the boy who never had a girlfriend, was never asked to dance and now the most beautiful woman in the world had kissed him. His first kiss.

China was exceedingly gorgeous, but far too easy to fall in love with. _Love should never be easy_, he thought – unable to move – _and this certainly isn't easy. With my sharp wit and deductive reasoning – this must be love._

He was now very sad in his dreamlike state. He knew there was a way, and he knew Skulduggery would find it for him. But he was sad he hadn't told Tanith Low he loved her sooner. She was gone. But not forever, and neither was he.

_Better late than never, _he thought.

**a/n - **I thought it would be cute if these two liked each other, simply because I don't want Ghastly to be alone, and I like Tanith. Also, I want Stephanie with Skullduggery, and China with no one because I really don't like her. I often think how awful it would be if she and Skul got together, and that's the material of nightmares people!


End file.
